The next morning, in a side hall in Grandmother Jia's rear courtyard.
The gentle golden light of dawn filtered through the thin, gossamer sea-silk curtains over the carved windows, spilling into the Jia Residence's lavishly elegant hall.
Grandmother Jia had just finished breakfast and freshening up. Attended by two fairy maidservants, she sat resting for a while in a broad, crimson chair inlaid with jewels and patterned with auspicious clouds.
The side hall's floor was covered with an expensive crimson carpet. Outside the windows, the scene was like a spring day, with flowers in full bloom and all sorts of graceful spirit butterflies fluttering among the light and blossoms. In the corner, an incense burner shaped like a crane and carved from ten-thousand-year-old aloeswood sent up curling trails of sandalwood incense, rich with spiritual energy and soothing to the mind and spirit. Its delicate fragrance refreshed the soul.
Grandmother Jia wore a casual ochre-gold robe patterned with pines and cranes, symbols of longevity. A string of warm brown spirit-bead prayer beads hung around her neck. Though she made no effort to release her spiritual pressure, the dignified bearing and quiet authority she had accumulated over long years of life and rule over an immense immortal residence still kept the two maidservants attending her with the utmost respect, hardly daring to breathe.
"..."
Once she was more or less ready, Grandmother Jia said nothing, merely waving a hand. The two maidservants took the jade basin and other things and withdrew discreetly.
Soon!
Not long after the maidservants had left, Wang Xifeng and Lin Daiyu came in one after the other. Daiyu did not yet need to attend classes and cultivate alongside the other Jia sisters.
Wang Xifeng was still dressed in dazzling finery, looking like a celestial princess—radiantly beautiful and strikingly